A new emerging sales model is changing the way businesses service their customers. Gone are the days when a sale centred round promoting the benefits of a specific product. The new model encompasses a more holistic approach that is geared towards providing a total solution to the customer.
"Sales representatives are increasingly being required to sell services along with a product in order to provide a comprehensive solution," says Service manager Manoj Bhoola. "Sales people who are knowledgeable in a particular product, and can provide consultation services to the customer are hard to come by in South Africa."
Novell`s recently launched consulting division is made up of a highly qualified and skilled team of strategists and technologists who are experts on Novell products and other popular platforms. They work in close collaboration with the customer, analysing their requirement and formulating a strategy that meets their specific needs. The division also includes sales persons dedicated to selling services around a product sell.
This effectively means the customer has to deal with two representatives. According to Bhoola, Novell is gearing itself up to train sales personnel via the CNS training modules, to carry out both sales and consulting functions. "Possessing both these skills will make them highly sought after in the IT industry, especially in the newly emerging e-business scenario," he says. "More and more companies are seeking high-end solutions that include e-business functionality. Novell has the ideal products that can be moulded together to create an e-business solution."
Bhoola adds, however, that e-business is often misconstrued by the business community. "E-business is not merely being able to purchase a movie ticket off the Web," he says. "It includes giving the customer, as well as business partners, access to the organisation`s back- and front-office systems. Consequently, the sales person must be able to sell a comprehensive e-business solution that operates successfully in a multi-platform environment."
Novell`s Netware 5.1 provides customers with a single solution for key net technologies, including Novell`s latest Novell Directory Services (NDS) e-Directory, to extend the reach of their existing computer networks across the net to employees, customers and supply-chain partners. NDS can be deployed across any operating platform.
"Selling a solution such as the one Novell offers, requires product as well as consulting skills that will pool all the necessary partnerships together to provide a total solution," says Bhoola. "Novell and its partners are ideally positioned to provide these skills."
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